Despite rumors that Muddy Waters Coffee House is on the verge of closing, owner Jake Kane assures customers that the Geneseo location will remain open.

“One of my employees approached me a few weeks ago and told me that a customer asked her if we were closing,” Kane said. “We’re definitely not closing.”

Though Kane said that he was unsure of how or where the rumor about closing began, he said he believed it was based on the recent closings of his other two Muddy Waters Coffee House locations in Rochester.

According to Kane, he was forced to close the Rochester locations after Highland Hospital failed to renew a long-standing coffee contract with Muddy Waters, which he said was a financial blow to the business.

“The hospital decided to run that aspect of it themselves rather than using an outside vendor,” he said.

Despite the closing of his other two locations, Kane said that the Geneseo Muddy Waters is “in business” and “not going anywhere.”

Kane also said that the Muddy Waters franchise is “constantly working on new things.”

“One of the things I developed this past summer at my store in the city is something I’m really excited about. It’s called Muddy Waters Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate,” he said.

Though Kane said that Muddy Waters has used cold brew coffee as its primary iced coffee for several years, he admitted that he is not the inventor of cold brew coffee.

According to Kane, to make cold brew coffee, coffee grounds are brewed in cold water for 24 hours. After straining to grounds, what remains is “concentrated, rich, dark, deep coffee concentrate.”

“Cold brew coffee is super smooth and doesn’t have any bitterness to it,” Kane said. “When you cold brew coffee, it’s 50 percent less acidic and very flavorful. It also holds up really well to ice.”

According to Kane, there is also three times as much caffeine in cold brew coffee compared to regular coffee.

Kane said that he began bottling his cold brew coffee after hearing that another coffee house was taking on a similar project.

“The specialty coffee industry is always pushing the trends. There’s always new drinks being invented. Cold brew coffee is a special thing which only a few coffee houses do,” he said.

Now that Kane is bottling and labeling the cold brew coffee, he said that he is looking into a space in Rochester where he can produce it.

“I’ve also talked to some retail locations about trying to stock it, including Wegmans,” Kane said. “The next step is that I meet directly with the Wegmans buyer and we come to an agreement where they will buy cold brew coffee from me.”

“This would be a stepping stone and a huge one,” Kane continued. “This opportunity will get our name out to an important retail location.”

Kane said that he hopes to launch this new product at the Geneseo Muddy Waters in spring 2013.

“We’re trying to branch out into new things,” Kane said. “Cold brew coffee is just one of the things we’re working on.”

“Being an independent coffee house owner is very competitive,” Kane said. “The Geneseo location has been the steadiest out of any of the stores I’ve ever had. It’s near and dear to my heart. My intention is not to go anywhere.”